


Infernos and Icestorms

by Russell Scottie (Russetfrost)



Category: Warriors - Erin Hunter
Genre: Crazy Ideas, Gen, Tiny in ThunderClan, crippled!Tigerclaw, medicine cat!Tigerclaw, random generators, wannabe murder fox
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-13
Updated: 2018-09-30
Packaged: 2018-10-18 12:51:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 11,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10617282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Russetfrost/pseuds/Russell%20Scottie
Summary: Tiny wanders into the forest and ends up in the Clans. An injury changed lives. Secrets were revealed. Deaths averted. Someone is out for revenge. He just wants a peaceful life.Warriors thrown through a bunch of random generators plus some really crazy ideas.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> First post to AO3, but originally posted on FanFiction.Net. I hope I did everything correctly.
> 
> I got enamored with random generators and decided to stick Warriors through a bunch, along with adding in some crazy ideas. So while at first it may seem like a Tiny joins ThunderClan instead of Rusty kind of fic, you'll soon find that it's much more than that.

Tiny awakens with a start, shivering from the nightmare he had just experienced. He felt cold as if he could still feel those icy waters’ death grip on him from his dream and the voices from his siblings echoed in his skull.

_“Housefolk drown unwanted kittens!”_

_“You’re so useless and small, no one would ever want you!”_

_“You’re going to get thrown in the river!”_

Shaking his head to try to get rid of those voices, Tiny unfurled himself from the soft blanket he was sleeping on and left the corner that he had chosen to sleep in. He looked around and spotted his mother still asleep in the soft nest the housefolk had provided for her.

His siblings, Ruby and Socks, had already found new housefolk to live with, but no one wanted him. He was scared that his mother’s housefolk will dump him in the river; he could barely be called a kitten anymore, even though he was still small enough to be mistaken as one. His mother often tells him not to worry, but he couldn’t help worrying after all the things his siblings told him over and over as kits.

He made his way over to the cat sized entrance in the housefolk’s barrier and stepped out into the housefolk’s yard. Blinking in the dawn light, he listened to the birds just waking up and starting to sing. Tiny walked along the yard’s fence as he tried to calm his chaotic thoughts. As he paced along the fence, he stumbled upon the hole in it that he had discovered as a kit. Tiny crouched down to peer through it to gaze upon the forest that lay beyond. He remembered being told there were wild cats living in that forest, his mother had called them savages and a scourge on the name of cat, but he also recalled when another housecat had visited the yard when he was a kit.

He had been scared of the strange visiting she-cat and hid in a bush, but he listened as Ruby and Socks talked to her and she told them that the forest cats weren’t all that bad. She said she had even met some who treated her well and even known a few housecats that had decided to live with the forest cats.

Tiny crept closer to the hole in the fence. Maybe his mother was wrong about the forest cats and the other housecat hadn’t just been telling stories to entertain kits. At the very least, those wild cats surely didn’t drown unwanted kits; no cat could be that cruel he thought.

The small black tom pushed his way through the hole, discovering he could still fit, but if he had been any bigger, he wouldn’t have been able to. He stared back at the hole, pondering if he should tell his mother that he was going into the forest, but decided against it. He didn’t want to disturb her rest and he also didn’t want to be told no, besides he’ll be right back. He was just going to find a forest cat and ask them a question.

As he wanders further and further into the forest, Tiny began to wonder if perhaps there really were forest cats living in the forest, or if he was there too early to see any of them as they’d all be in their nests sleeping. He pads his way into a clearing and seeing a red-furred creature on the other side, back to him, pawing at the base of a tree.

 _‘Finally! That has to be a forest cat!’_ Tiny thinks as he steps closer. “Hello!” he calls out to the other. The other stopped, white-tipped tail flicking once before falling still. As he got closer, the tom noticed just how big the other was. _‘He’s really big. Maybe forest cats just grow really large?_ ’ “Forest cat?”

The red-furred creature turned to face the cat and the small housecat let out a screech of fright as he recognize dog-like features on the creature that certainly wasn’t a cat. The creature leapt and landed on him, grabbing him in its teeth and shaking him roughly, its teeth hooking onto his collar, causing it to tighten on his neck. Tiny unsheathed his claws and franticly tried to claw and bite at his attacker, the only thought in his mind being _‘I don’t want to die!’_

The small tom managed to get a few well-placed scratches on the creature’s face, which caused the creature to throw him. He landed hard on the unforgiving ground, collar snapping off, but he quickly pushed himself to his paws and ran in a random direction, wanting to put as much distance between himself and the creature that just tried to murder him. He had no idea where he was going, but he didn’t care, he wanting to live! Heavy pawsteps sounding behind him told him that the creature had given chase and was following him.

Running, Tiny noticed none of the trees looked familiar to the ones that he passed going through the forest originally, so he did not have the option to run back to the housefolk’s yard and nest for protection. His only hope now was to find a place to hide that the creature could not get to. He took a sharp turn to avoid running into a large tree, only to run directly into something. _‘No. no, no, no, NO!’_ His thoughts wailed as he tumbled in the dirt to a stop.

Getting back to his paws, the housecat saw that the thing he ran into was another cat. The other cat was also black and small, though bigger than him by a bit. “Creature!” Tiny managed to get out between gasps of breath, wanting to warn the other. “It’s coming!”

The other black cat blinked at Tiny but his head whipped around as the red creature came bounding around the tree trunk. “Fox!” the mysterious cat yowled loudly into the forest. He was on his paws and standing in a certain way as he faced the murderous red creature.

The red creature, a fox, yipped and lunged at the new cat, who dodged to the side before leaping onto its back. The fox let out a screech of pain and turned its head to snap at the cat on its back with large, sharp teeth. Tiny stared with wide eyes, amazed that any cat could stand up to a creature like that.

The fox’s teeth connected with something, a leg, and it bit down hard, drawing blood, as it pulled the small cat off of it and tossed him into a tree. The cat struggled to get up, but it’s leg buckled and it collapsed to the ground. The fox rounded on the wounded cat, a cruel look shinning in its eyes.

 _‘No!’_ Tiny thought as he stared in horror as the fox came closer and closer to the other cat. _‘I can’t let this happen!’_ He thought, letting out the loudest growl he has ever made. Tiny ran at the fox, ramming into its side, clawing and biting at a leg. The fox hardly budging from the light weight that had hit it, it turned and glared at the tiny cat before snapping its jaws around him and biting down.

Tiny cried out in pain as he felt the teeth sink into his body and blood pour down his sides. _‘Is this how I’m going to die?’_ he thought as the pain threatened to overwhelm him. He should never have left the housefolk’s yard, should never have left his mother’s side; his mother who he probably won’t get to see again if he dies here. Two fierce yowls reached his ears before he was suddenly dropped onto the hard ground.

Two blue-gray cats burst through the undergrowth and viciously attacked the fox. The fox yipped in surprise and fear, turning tail from its attackers and running away. One of the blue-gray cats gave chase, attacking its heels and tail, driving it further and faster away.

The remaining gray cat, a she-cat, padded over to the two injured black toms, eyes running over them, assessing them. “Bluestar!” the other black cat called out in relief. “Thank you for coming. For a moment I was afraid you didn’t hear my yowl.”

“We heard you, Ravenpaw,” the she-cat meowed in a gentle, yet authoritative tone. “How badly are you injured? Do you think you can walk?”

The other, Ravenpaw, got to his paws and tested out his bloody leg, he winced as he put weight on it, but it didn’t buckle like before. “I think I can get back to camp on my own,” he mewed cautiously.

Bluestar nodded before turning her attention and blue calculating gaze on Tiny, who lay very still on his side, eyes barely open as his breath came out in painful pants. The other gray cat, a tom, came padding back at that moment, moving to the she-cat’s side. “I’ve chased the fox as far as Tree-cut Place, Bluestar. I’ll inform Redtail of its presence when we return to camp so he can get a patrol together to drive it out of our territory,” he reported to the she-cat.

“Thank you,” Bluestar meowed, blinking appreciative at him. “Can you carry this kit to the medicine cat’s den? He is in desperate need of medical care.”

The word kit got Tiny’s pelt bristling in anger, he leapt to his feet despite the intense pain. “I’m no kit! I’m already two seasons old!” he hissed at the gray colored cats. And maybe he shouldn’t have done that as darkness edged his vision and his legs shook, barely able to support him. His eyes rolled back as the blackness and pain took over before he could even feel himself collapse back down to the ground.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tiny awakens to find he is in a den, is scared by a scary medicine cat, and is given an offer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took a little longer than I had planned to get finished, kept getting distracted by creating backstories for characters that won't be introduced until much later.
> 
> Cross-posted to FF and Warriors Amino.

Blinking awake, Tiny looked around as confusion fogged up his mind. He lay in a mossy nest at the edge of a small clearing surrounded by ferns tall enough to cover everything in shade. As he wounded where he was, he was suddenly aware of the burning pain in his sides. He let out a hiss of pain at the sensation and the memories of the cause flashed through his head.

“Now that you’re finally awake, take those herbs,” a low, gruff voice meowed, startling the young black cat.

Tiny looked up to where the voice sounded and let out a squeak at the sight of the other cat. On the other side of the small clearing, sitting in front of a boulder with a large slit in its center was a very large brown tabby tom covered in scars. The large male wasn’t facing him, wasn’t even looking at him, but instead was looking down at several plants at his paws, sorting them into smaller piles.

Looking away from the scary looking cat, Tiny looked down and spotted a small pile of plants and a seed at the edge of the nest he was in. He bent his head down and quickly lapped up the herbs, wrinkling his nose at the foul taste, but swallowing them anyway as he was afraid what the tabby might do to him if he spat them out.

The sounds of ferns rustling caught Tiny’s attention and he turned to see the blue-gray she-cat that had helped save him from that fox step through a fern tunnel in the wall of ferns. She gave a nod to the tabby before stopping in front of the black tom, sitting down and staring down at him with clear blue eyes.

“I am pleased to see you are awake, young one,” she meowed. “I am Bluestar, leader of ThunderClan; you are currently in our camp’s medicine den.”

Though Bluestar had the air of authority, Tiny couldn’t help peering around her to look at the scary tabby, only to freeze when he noticed the tabby was no longer looking at his plants, but was now glaring at him with dark amber eyes. He tore his gaze away to stare down at the ground, quivering under the intensity of that glare.

“What is your name?” Bluestar meowed gently, trying to coax the answer out of the clearly nervous tom.

Tiny looked up at her, but his gaze nervously flitted back to the tabby before landing on the she-cat again. He opened his mouth to tell her, but he couldn’t get anything to come out.

The gray she-cat blinked in understanding, turning to look over her shoulder at the large tom behind her. “Tigerclaw, I would like a moment of privacy with him,” she told him and while her voice was friendly, it was clearly an order.

Tigerclaw let out a low growl of annoyance, but stood up to leave anyway. As he walked out of the den, grumbling why he had to leave his own den, Tiny gasped as he saw one of the tabby’s back legs was completely missing, all that was left was a hunk of heavily scarred tissue.

“Tigerclaw is ThunderClan’s medicine cat and as such he has taken a vow to heal, not to harm,” she explained to him. “His scars are quite shocking to anyone who has never met him before, but the accident that give those to him was an isolated incident.”

Tiny turned back to Bluestar, his light blue eyes wide. “But he’s missing a leg!” he exclaims in his shock. “How is he alive?”

She dipped her head a little, blue eyes dark as she meowed, “It was a horrifying wound and our medicine cat at the time worked endlessly for several moons to keep him alive.” She turned her gaze to the fern tunnel, as if looking through it to see the large tabby on the other side, as she continued, “But he survived and is serving ThunderClan well as its current medicine cat.”

He blinked as he let what he just learned settle in his mind with everything else that has happened to him since he entered the forest. He turned back to the ThunderClan leader and as a thought dawned on him, felt his pelt flush with embarrassment. “Ah, I’m sorry for not introducing myself,” he apologized as he pulled himself into a sitting position, his sides feeling a dull ache as whatever plants he had swallowed earlier dulled his pain. “My name is Tiny.”

Bluestar turned to settle her gaze back on him and mewed, “I have some questions to ask you. Do you think you are well enough to answer them or would you like to rest some more first?”

“I can answer them now,” Tiny meowed, fidgeting a bit under her powerful gaze.

“What were you doing in the forest?”

Pale blue eyes darted down and he looked at how small his paws were compared to her’s. “I had a question to ask you forest cats.”

“What was that question?” She asked, her voice holding a touch of surprise, like this was an unusual answer, which it probably was.

He hesitated for a bit, but finally asked in a small voice, “What do you do with unwanted kits?”

“Unwanted kits? There isn’t any kits or cats unwanted in ThunderClan,” Bluestar said, confusion clear in her voice. “Why do you ask?”

Tiny looked back up toward the she-cat and stared into her eyes, finding that he believed what she said. “My siblings told me that twolegs drown unwanted kits in the river,” he explained. “I can hardly be called a kit anymore at two seasons, both of my siblings found twolegs of their own and none seems to want me.”

“Twolegs can be very cruel, but I don’t think even they would do something like that,” she meowed back, trying to comfort him.

He stayed silent as his eyes flicked back down, not quite believing her because what if she was wrong and that was what he was going back to when he returned. When he left, would he be going back to a death sentence?

“You were very brave to attack that fox in an attempt to protect Ravenpaw without any training, Tiny,” Bluestar told him. “ThunderClan is always in need of brave warriors which is why I will extend an invitation to you to join ThunderClan.”

Tiny stared at her stunned. Join the forest cats-ThunderClan? But what about his mother? Could he really leave her behind? But if he returned to the twolegs, would they just throw him into a river? “Th-thank you for the offer,” he did manage to stutter out.

“Rest, Tiny,” she told him as she stood. “You may stay in ThunderClan’s camp until you are healed; you can inform me then of your decision.” She turned and walked out through the fern tunnel, the ferns rustling from the movement.

Tiny watched her go, his mind still on the offer. The fern tunnel rustled again and Tigerclaw emerged from it. The large tom glanced around his den, eyes landing on his patient and narrowed. “What are you still doing here?” his low, gruff voice growled out.

“B-Bl-Bluestar said I could stay until I healed,” the black tom squeaked out. The ThunderClan leader may have said that the tabby took an oath to never harm another cat, but that did not make Tigerclaw any less scary in Tiny’s eyes.

“But what are you still doing in my den? Your wounds aren’t so bad that you need to be confined to a nest. As long as you don’t jump around too much, you should be fine. Now go, your presence is annoying me,” the medicine cat growled.

Tiny nodded violently, quickly getting to his paws and dashing out of the den through the fern tunnel, not wanting to anger the tom any further. As he stepped out of the tunnel and into ThunderClan’s camp, he let out a gasp at what he saw.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Will try to get next chapter out quicker.


	3. Chapter Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tiny tours ThunderClan's camp and meets some new cats. Also a patrol returns with a interesting report.

Tiny looked around ThunderClan’s camp with wide, awestruck eyes. It was so big and there were so many cats. He didn’t know what to do or if any of the cats were friendly or not. Looking over the cats, he spotted two cats looking about his age sitting near a tree stump on the other side of camp. One of the two was a familiar looking black cat. He padded over to them, hoping they would at least let him sit with them.

The unfamiliar cat, a fluffy gray tom, looked up and saw him. “Hey there, little kittypet,” he meowed, voice warm and welcoming. “Ravenpaw was just telling me how you threw yourself at a fox. I didn't know kittypets were fox fighters.”

The comment almost sounded like an insult, and it took Tiny a moment to realize that the gray tom was genuinely curious. He stopped in front of them, shuffling his paws. “No,” he muttered, “I don’t think most kittypets would be considered fox fighters. I didn’t even know what one looked like until this morning.”

“But you did try fighting one off! That’s something most cats wouldn’t try doing alone,” the gray cat mewed. “By the way, I’m Graypaw and this is Ravenpaw. And welcome to ThunderClan.”

“My name is Tiny,” he returned, unsure of how to really respond to that. He looked over the two, Gray was larger and fluffier, looking like he ate more than he should, but was already looking like he was going to grow up into a large bulky build. Ravenpaw on the other paw, looked like Graypaw’s opposite; smaller, though not as small as Tiny, with thinner fur and a lean build, he was scrawny-looking but not unhealthily so. Tiny’s eyes landed on Ravenpaw’s shoulder and noticed cobwebs covering a wound and guilt overcame him. “I’m sorry, Ravenpaw, if it wasn’t for me leading the fox towards you, you wouldn’t have gotten injured.”

Ravenpaw blinked in surprise before responding, “No need to apologize. The fox was already on our territory, it was only a matter of time before it found me or someone else and attacked.”

Tiny glanced down at his paws, the words were supposed to be comforting but he still felt guilty. A loud hiss caught his attention and he looked up, looking around to find the source of the commotion.

In a corner of camp, near a pile of fresh-kill stood three cats. A pale tabby had his fur fluffed up, ears back and teeth bared, glaring at a medium-furred tortoiseshell she-cat. A blue-gray tom stood at the tabby’s side, his red-brown undercoat shining through the gray in the sunlight. Tiny was too far away to hear what was being said, but it was clear that the tortoiseshell was saying things that the tabby wasn’t too happy about. The gray tom brushed his tail along the tabby’s back in a comforting way as he whispered something to him, which seemed to calm the tabby down, before turning to the she-cat and saying something to her. The tortoiseshell lashed her tail; clearly not liking what was said, before stalking off toward the entrance of camp. The two toms moved into the shade next to a den, the gray’s pelt turning darker with the lack of bright light bringing out the undercoat’s color, making the tom look familiar.

“Looks like Honeyfang’s in a bad mood today,” Graypaw meowed at Tiny’s side. “Best to try to keep out of her way.”

The small tom turned back to the two he was sitting with, confused. “Who is she?” he asked them.

“The tortoiseshell she-cat,” Ravenpaw meowed, “her name is Honeyfang.”

“She’s got a real nasty personality that contradicts her appearance and name,” the fluffy tom added. “Honeyfang doesn’t like apprentices or kits- well there’s not many cats she actually does like.”

“Apprentices? What are those?” Tiny asked.

A look of shock overtook Graypaw’s face before realization dawned upon him. “Oh, that’s right; you’re a kittypet so you wouldn’t know. The Clans are made up of mainly warriors, who hunt and fight for the Clan. Once kits reach six moons, they are made apprentices and train to become warriors.”

“Clans? There’s more than just ThunderClan in the forest?” he asked, surprised. He had been surprised by the amount of cats he had seen in ThunderClan’s camp, he hadn’t thought there would be that many in the forest. The thought of more cats than that started to make him wonder just how many cats lived without twolegs.

“There are four Clans and not all live in the forest,” Ravenpaw meowed. “There’s ThunderClan, which is where we are. Then there’s RiverClan who lives by the river, WindClan who lives in the moor, and ShadowClan lives in the pine marches.”

Four large groups of cats lived just outside his mother’s twoleg nest and none of the kittypets had any real idea. Tiny looked about the camp at all the cats that were going about their day and he noticed that the two toms that had that confrontation with Honeyfang were gone. “Who were those two toms?” he asked.

“The tabby is called Longtail and the gray is Stonefall,” the black apprentice answered.

“Stonefall is Ravenpaw’s mentor and Bluestar’s son,” Graypaw added.

The information that Bluestar had at least a son stunned him for a moment. When he had spoken to her in the medicine den, she seemed like the kind of cat who put duty over love, but perhaps it wasn’t always that way. Now that he thought about it, the two did look a lot of alike and Tiny wondered if Stonefall’s odd red-brown undercoat came from his father.

“Come on,” Graypaw called out, on paws and nearly bouncing with energy. “We’ll show you around camp.”

“All right,” Tiny responded as he followed the other two. They didn’t go very far, just to the other side of the tree stump were a large clump of ferns that made a nest, it seemed smaller than the rest of the nests in camp.

“This is the apprentice’s den,” the gray tom explained. “All warrior apprentices sleep here. Right now there’s just Ravenpaw, me, Sandpaw and Dustpaw.”

The black kittypet looked over the den again; it seemed far too large for only four cats to be using. “Is there normally more apprentices?” he asked.

Ravenpaw blinks and murmured back, “Yes, there normally is, but ThunderClan suffered heavily last leaf-bare when greencough hit.”

Tiny didn’t know what greencough was, but it sounded like a bad illness. If Graypaw and Ravenpaw were about the same age as Tiny, then they had to have been kits in leaf-bare. They may have lost family, even littermates, to this greencough. Tiny had never been close to his own littermates, Socks and Ruby, but if they had died, he’d still miss them.

The apprentices started padding away and Tiny nearly tripped over his own paws so he wouldn’t be left behind. They stopped by a den larger than the apprentice’s den and covered in brambles. Voices could be heard inside and he could pick out the high, squeaky voices of kits.

“This is the nursery where queens and kits stay,” Graypaw meowed.

Before they could turn to move on, a pale ginger she-cat emerged from the nursery. She blinked in surprise to find three cats standing outside of the den. “Graypaw, Ravenpaw,” she greeted the apprentices before her gaze landed on him. “Oh hello there.”

“Hello, Goldenflower,” the black apprentice greeted her in return.

“This is Tiny, we’re giving him a tour of camp,” Graypaw explained.

“Hi,” Tiny mews awkwardly, not really knowing what to say.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Tiny,” Goldenflower purred, her yellow eyes filled with warmth. “Don’t tire him out too much, you two, he’s still injured.”

“We won’t, Goldenflower,” Graypaw meowed while Ravenpaw nodded his head in agreement next to him.

The she-cat nodded before padding away and Tiny watched her head toward the fresh-kill pile. The queen had reminded him of his mother and with guilt he realized that she would have noticed him missing by now and be worried sick about it. He wished there was a way for him to let her know that he was safe.

“This way!” the gray apprentice called out to him.

Tiny looked up and saw that they had moved on without him and he rushed to catch up with them. He caught up to them by a fallen tree that looked like there was a den under it; several elderly cats were lying down in front of it, sunning themselves.

“This is the elders’ den and these cats are the elders,” Graypaw explained.

“Aren’t you going to introduce us to our guest, Graypaw?” an elderly black and white tom asked, looking mildly amused at the apprentice.

“Of course I am,” the gray tom meowed in a tone that made Tiny think he hadn’t planned to. “These cats are Halftail, Smallear, Patchpelt, One-eye and Dappletail,” he introduced, pointing his tail toward each cat.

Tiny stepped closer to the cats and meowed, “It’s a pleasure to meet all of you. My name is Tiny.”

The gray she-cat squinted her one eye at him. “You aren’t Ravenpaw,” she croaked out.

“I’m over here, One-eye,” Ravenpaw mewed from Graypaw’s other side, but it appeared the elder didn’t hear him.

“His name is Tiny! He’s out guest!” Patchpelt meowed loudly in her ear. The elder then turned to face the guest and gave an apologetic purr, “Don’t mind her, her eyesight is bad and the only thing worse than that is her hearing.”

“Then why didn’t you say so?” One-eye grumbled, “Young cats these days.”

“It’s fine,” Tiny mewed. He never really interacted with elderly cats before, but he liked that ThunderClan cared for them in their advanced age.

“Have you eaten yet?” Dappletail asked the small guest.

Tiny blinked at the question, thinking back to when he last ate and remembering that he hasn’t eaten all day. He could now feel how hungry he now was and shook his head.

Dappletail turned to the apprentices with narrowed eyes. “Go get our guest some food, it would be very rude to have him starve on us.”

“Yes, Dappletail,” the apprentices chorused at the same time.

“Come on, Tiny,” Graypaw meowed as he lead the way to the fresh-kill pile. “I’m hungry myself, so it’s the perfect time for a break.”

The group of three arrived at the fresh-kill pile and as the apprentices picked out pieces to eat, Tiny just stared at it. He had never eaten anything that the twolegs hadn’t given to him. How did they catch these creatures? How does one even eat something that was once alive?

“What’s wrong?” Graypaw asked after picking out a piece and noticing that Tiny hadn’t picked anything out.

“I’ve never eaten prey before,” Tiny admitted embarrassed.

“What? ...Oh, right! Kittypet,” the gray apprentice exclaimed before remembering the small cat’s origin.

“Here,” Ravenpaw mewed, placing a mouse at Tiny’s paws. “Try this, it shouldn’t upset your stomach too much.”

“Thank you,” the black kittypet mewed before following the apprentices back to the tree stump where they settled down to eat.

Tiny stared down at the mouse, still unsure if he could really bring himself to eat it. His stomach ached with hunger and he lowered his head down to take a small bite of the mouse. It was an unfamiliar and strange texture, but it didn’t taste bad, in fact it actually tasted pretty good. He dug in, starting to devour the mouse.

After he had finished the mouse, Tiny turned toward the two apprentices and saw they too had finished their meals and were grooming themselves. “Why is everyone being so nice to me?” he asked the two. He had thought the cats living in the forest wouldn’t be so friendly toward outsiders, but apart from the medicine cat every cat he had interacted with had been very kind to him.

“Not too long ago, it might have been different,” Ravenpaw meowed as he started to explain. “Except for ShadowClan who always took in rogues, the Clans usually never took in outsiders before. Now the Clans are a little more accepting of letting others in; I know that there’s at least two cats in WindClan that joined them several seasons ago.”

“There’s also one in RiverClan, a former kittypet I think,” Graypaw added, pausing mid lick to his paw. “I saw him fall into the river the other day, it was hilarious!”

Tiny thought back to Bluestar’s offer to join ThunderClan and while he was relieved to know that other cats had joined the Clans before, he was still nervous about the idea. If he did accept and he failed to become a warrior, would Bluestar throw him out?

The calm, quiet lull of camp broke as a group of cats entered ThunderClan’s camp. The cat in the lead, a tortoiseshell tom, went straight for a large boulder, stepped through a curtain of lichen into a den. Cats from around camp started to murmur to each other, which caused more cats to come out from their dens to see what was going on.

“The patrol’s back!” Graypaw exclaimed as he jumped to his paws in excitement. “They were gone a long time, I wonder what took them so long.”

“Patrol?” Tiny asked confused as he looked at the cats that had entered camp. He spotted one of them, a black tom with a reddish undercoat shining through in the sunlight, was holding his broken collar.

“The patrol was set out to chase off the fox that attacked us,” Ravenpaw mewed.

Bluestar and the tortoiseshell tom emerged from the den in the boulder and Bluestar immediately leapt on top of the rock. “Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather here beneath the Highrock for a Clan meeting,” she yowled out.

The cats of ThunderClan began to gather under the boulder, even more cats spilling out of dens to hear what the leader had to say. Tigerclaw slipped out of the medicine cat’s den, limping over to the base of the boulder and settling down to sit there. “Let's get closer!” Graypaw meowed, as he moved closer to the rock.

Tiny stood and followed the apprentices closer to the rock, wondering if he should even be listening in. He wasn’t a part of ThunderClan and while he supposedly was old enough to catch his own prey, he never had. Did that exclude him from the Clan meeting? He didn’t voice his thoughts aloud and settled down next to Graypaw and Ravenpaw.

“Redtail and his patrol has returned and has news to share with the Clan,” Bluestar announced before stepping back a bit on the rock and inclining her head to the tortoiseshell.

Redtail leapt up beside the ThunderClan leader and addressed the Clan, “We’ve chased the fox off ThunderClan territory, but while we investigated to search where it came from we discovered something. The fox came from Twoleg Place, but that’s not the only unusual thing. We also scented the fire-smelling rogue again.”

The Clan erupted into loud murmurs about the fire-smelling rogue. Tiny wondered who the rogue could be and how a cat could smell like fire. Whoever the rogue was, regardless of smell, ThunderClan didn’t seem to like them.

After the Clan settled down Redtail continued, “We are not sure exactly, but it smelled like the rogue at different times followed the fox and our kittypet guest.”

The gathered cats broke out in murmurs and whispers again, but Bluestar silenced them with a flick of her tail. “Do you think the rogue had anything to do with the fox or our guest?” she asked him.

Redtail shook his head as he meowed, “No, I don’t think the fire-smelling rogue has anything to do with our guest. However if I were take a guess, I think the rogue followed the fox into the forest, perhaps even chased it into our territory even.”

“Thank you, Redtail,” the blue-gray she-cat meowed before addressing her Clan. “Until we are certain this fox won’t return to our territory, no apprentices are allowed outside camp alone for any reason. As for this rogue, everyone must remain alert; we do not know what their intentions are but we shouldn’t lower our guard while they still roam our territory. This meeting is now over.”

Bluestar and Redtail jumped down from the boulder and beckoned several warriors over to talk near the rock den’s entrance. The rest of the Clan dispersed, talking about the findings the patrol brought back and about the rogue. Tiny blinked when a cat stopped in front of him, blocking the sunlight from hitting him.

The black kittypet looked at the cat and saw it was the black tom that was still carrying the tattered collar in his jaws. The warrior placed it at Tiny’s paws before meowing in a rough sounding voice, “I thought you might want this back.”

“Th-thank you,” Tiny squeaked out as he stared down at the ruined collar.

The warrior grunted before padding away across camp toward Honeyfang and a she-cat that looked almost exactly like Honeyfang, only with shorter fur and lighter amber eyes. The shorter furred tortoiseshell she-cat appeared to greet the tom in a friendly manner, while Honeyfang ignored him.

“Whoa! Shadepelt actually talked to you!” Graypaw exclaimed in amazement. “He hardly talks to anyone but his family.”

Tiny stared down at his collar, pawing it over and looking at the break. It was surely broken beyond what his mother’s twolegs could repair. He wondered if the twolegs would be upset that it got broken and if he should just get rid of it.

“Hey, runt!” Tigerclaw’s growl scared him out of his thoughts. Looking up, Tiny saw the crippled cat standing near the medicine cat’s den, glaring at him. “Get back in here,” he ordered before entering the den.

“Good luck,” Graypaw meowed in farewell.

“Try not to stare at his leg, that gets him really angry,” Ravenpaw told him.

“Thank you for today,” Tiny mewed before grabbing the ruined collar, deciding he’d think about what to do with it later, and hurried back to the medicine cat’s den. He was already growing pretty tired and it was only sunhigh, he hoped the scary medicine cat would let him sleep a bit.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tiny makes a life changing decision and makes a trip.

Four sunsets and sunrises past while Tiny stayed in ThunderClan’s camp healing; he practically met everyone in the Clan by then. Ravenpaw and Graypaw, along with the other apprentices, spent most of their days training, so the black tom spent most of his days with the rest of the Clan, trying to avoid the medicine cat most of the time.

He spent much of his time with the elders, listening to stories of the four Clans, their warrior code and ancestors. He also entertains the kits, which the queens felt grateful to him for doing. He had been amazed meeting the kits the first time as he had never met any cat younger or smaller than him and all the kits were that.

He was sitting with the kits and elders as Halftail told the story of how a badger bit off half of his tail, when Bluestar approached. The kits were distracted first. Noticing that most of his audience’s attention were gone, Halftail turned his head to see his leader. “Bluestar, is there anything I can help you with?”

“I was trying not to distract your listeners but it appears I wasn’t so successful,” the blue-gray she-cat meowed with calm bemusement.

“Nothing can keep their attention when ThunderClan’s leader stops by,” Halftail purred.

“I wish to speak with our guest in private,” Bluestar meowed, looking the black kittypet in the eye and making a beckoning motion to follow with her tail.

Tiny nods and followed her to where she lead him into the leader’s den. He already knew what this talk would be probably be about, if he’s returning to twoleg place or not. He looked over his shoulder at ThunderClan’s kits and elders, wishing he could of stay with them longer to finish the story. Pushing his way past the lichen curtain covering the entrance of the leader’s den, he saw it was quite spacious inside.

“Tigerclaw has informed me that you are ready to make the return journey to your twolegs,” Bluestar said as she sat down, gaze not wavering from his eyes. “On your first day in ThunderClan I extended an invitation to join ThunderClan, now is the time for your answer.”

The small tom fidgeting under her gaze as he thought of his answer. He thought of living with his mother, the threat of being drowned in the river by the Twolegs seemed so much smaller now than it had been once; but he also thought about the time he spent with ThunderClan so far. His own gaze turned to his paws, one black and one white. “If I join ThunderClan, will you change my name?”

“Yes, most cats who join the Clans are given a name that fits in with the naming taditions of the the Clans,,” Bluestar answered.

“I want to join,” Tiny mewed quietly, before staring up and into the leader’s eyes and saying louder, “I want to join ThunderClan and get rid of the name Tiny.”

Bluestar gave a blink of understanding. “That is doable,” she responded.

He let out a sigh of relief that he wouldn’t have to keep this name he has hated for so long. His thoughts however lingered on his mother and worry grew inside him. “Can I visit my mother first? Since I’ve been here she must have been very worried about me. I want to tell her that she won’t have to worry about me anymore,” he meowed his request.

“That is very thoughtful of you. I’ll put together a patrol to help guide you back to twoleg place to say your farewells,” she said as she got to her paws and walked out of her den.

Tiny followed her out and darted toward the medicine cat’s den. He barely gave notice to the medicine cat inside of it as he dug through his nest to find where he put his ruined collar. “Is the little kittypet finally leaving? About time,” Tigerclaw hissed.

The black tom turned to face the tabby. “I’m returning this,” he meowed, “and then I am staying here.”

Amber eyes blazed his hatred as he glared into Tiny, “You won’t stand long, kittypet. Kittypets are weak and and you are the weakest kittypet I’ve ever seen. You will be crawling back to your twolegs soon enough.”

“Then I’ll prove you wrong,” Tiny mewed before picking up the collar and slipping his way out of the den as quickly as he could, heart pounding. Why he do that? Even though the tabby was a medicine cat, Tiny felt that if Tigerclaw wanted to he could snap his spine in two and not bat an eye.

As he tried to calm his beating heart from that encounter, he looked up and saw that Bluestar was standing by the camp’s entrance with Shadepelt and Longtail. Tiny stepped up to the three cats, feeling nervous around the two toms. In his stay with ThunderClan so far, he hadn’t interacted with Shadepelt since the warrior gave him his ruined collar and he barely interacted with Longtail and even then it was usually when Stonefall was nearby.

“Shadepelt and Longtail will take you closest to where your twoleg den is and will guide you back to camp once you have said your goodbyes,” Bluestar informed before padded back further into camp.

“Come on, little kittypet,” Longtail grunted as started padding out the entrance in long strides with the other warrior.

Tiny bolted forward, nearly tripping over his own paws in an effort to keep up with the two long-legged warriors. The trek was done in silence, Shadepelt taking the lead through the forest toward the border of twoleg place. Longtail followed behind his fellow warrior, looking that he wanted to be elsewhere but kept an eye on Tiny to make sure he didn’t get too far behind.

When they reached the line of fences, the group stopped. Tiny looked at the fences and noticed one with a small familiar hole in it that he had used to leave the yard. He placed the collar down to talk, “It’s right over there. I don’t think she’d take well to you two coming into the yard, could you please wait out here?”

Shadepelt nodded and sat, his expression blank as he prepared to wait. Longtail however let out of a huff and a low hiss, “Don’t make us wait long, kittypet,” before he too settled down.

Tiny picked the collar up and moved toward the hole, still easily slipping through the hole and into the yard. He placed the collar down and looked around the yard to see if his mother was out. “Mama?” he called out. “Are you there, mother?”

A gray she-cat’s head popped out through the cat-sized entrance of the twoleg den and once she spotted the small black tom she bolted out and toward. “Tiny! I’ve been so worried,” she meowed, leaning down and giving him relieved licks until she found his healing wounds. “What happened?”

“I’m sorry to have worry you, mama,” Tiny said, feeling terrible that he had been away from her for so long with no word. “I met some cats in the forest and they helped me. I’m going to go live with them, mama. I came to say goodbye and return this.” He nudged the ruined collar toward her. “I’m sorry it got ruined.”

Quince stepped back with a horrified expression crossing her face. “Forest cats? Were they the ones that hurt you? Don’t go, Tiny. The twolegs are planning to let you stay here, you don’t have to go.”

The black tom shook his head, “no, they weren’t the ones that hurt me; they saved me from a fox that attacked me. They were really nice, mama; not at all like those stories you used to tell. I want to live them, I just wanted to apologises for worrying you all this time.”

The gray queen gave a soft huff as she recognized that she wouldn’t win this argument. “I don’t approve, but if you truly believe that’s where you want to live, then I cannot stop you. Goodbye, Tiny. If you ever want to return, you will always be welcomed here.” She leaned down and gave his head an affectionate lick.

“Thank you, mama,” Tiny meowed as she moved back toward the hole in the fence. “Goodbye.”

He pushed his way back through the hole to find the two toms still waiting for him. “Done already, kittypet?” Longtail asked as he drew a licked paw over his whiskers.

Tiny nodded and mewed, “yes, I’ve said my goodbyes.”

Shadepelt nodded his head and stood up, starting the trek back to camp in silence, not waiting for the other two. Longtail and Tiny followed and the three wove their way back through the forest to ThunderClan’s camp.

Back at camp, almost the whole Clan was out mulling around talking or sharing tongues. Bluestar sat with her deputy and senior warriors by the Highrock, her gaze sweeping over her Clan only to stop on them. Shadepelt gave a nod toward her before padding off toward his family. Bluestar leapt on top of the rock and called for a Clan meeting.

Startled at the thought that Bluestar could be making him apart of ThunderClan that moment, he scanned the crowd that now gathered around the rock. He saw Longtail had already slipped away and joined Stonefall and Stonefall’s sister, Silverheart. He spotted Ravenpaw and Graypaw and decided it was best to sit with them again, not knowing what to do.

“As you all know ThunderClan has been short on warriors and apprentices after the harshest leaf-bare the Clans have seen in a long time,” Bluestar began. “A quarter moon ago ThunderClan took in our guest Tiny, but today he will be a guest no longer; he will become a member of ThunderClan.”

The Clan turned to stare at Tiny and he fidgeted under their gazes. He had no idea Bluestar was going to do this right away and that everyone would be staring at him. What was he supposed to do?

“Tiny, come forth,” the leader of ThunderClan commanded.

The small black tom weaved his way through the crowd until he was in front of the boulder the leader was speaking from and stared up at her.

“From this day forward, until he has earned his warrior name, this apprentice will be called Icepaw.”

“Icepaw! Icepaw!” some of the Clan cheered his new named. It felt strange to be called something else, but it sounded like a strong name and he wanted to live up to it.

“Longtail, step forward,” Bluestar commanded, not done with the ceremony yet.

The pale tabby’s eyes widen in shock and he looked at his friend, Stonefall, who nodded in encouragement to him. Longtail stepped forward, looking up at his leader.

“This will be your first apprentice Longtail, but I am confident you will pass down all you have learned from your mentor to your new apprentice, Icepaw.”

Tiny, now, Icepaw, stared up at the tabby tom unsure what to do now. “Now’s the part we touch noses,” Longtail whispered. Icepaw nodded to show he heard and padded up to the older tom and stretched up to touch noses with him.

The Clan cheered again before starting to disperse as Bluestar leapt down from the rock, moving back to speak with her senior warriors again.

“It’s too late for a territory tour, we’ll have to do that tomorrow. For now see if the elders need anything,” Longtail told him.

Icepaw looked back up to his tall mentor, feeling a bit like this could all be a strange dream. “And after that?” he asked.

“Do whatever you want,” Longtail meowed, already headinging back to Stonefall and Silverheart.

Icepaw could see a mixture of emotions in the tabby by the way his pelt prickled along his spine and his tail tip lashed back and forth. He hoped they were good emotions, he didn’t want his mentor to hate him or be unwilling to teach him.

He turned to make his way to the elders when Graypaw and Ravenpaw approached him. “Hey Icepaw!” Graypaw called. “Great name! I thought for sure Bluestar would have called you Tinypaw.”

“Th-thanks,” Icepaw stuttered out, still taken aback at how energetic the gray apprentice could be.

“I’m glad you decided to join ThunderClan, Icepaw,” Ravenpaw meowed.

The two apprentices soon left him to deal with the elders as they prepared a new nest in the apprentices’ den for him. It turned out all the elders needed were an evening meal which Icepaw happily supplied them. Once finished he grabbed an evening meal of mouse to eat with Graypaw and Ravenpaw, enjoying his first evening as an official member of ThunderClan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for how long it's taken to get this chapter finished! Things haven't been good. Don't know when the next chapter will get down, but expect some territory tour to fill up parts of it.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Icepaw tours ThunderClan territory and meets some new cats.

Icepaw awoke with the sun, filled with nervous energy over his first real day as an apprentice of ThunderClan. Looking around the apprentice den he noticed the other apprentices were also waking up.

“Morning,” Graypaw meowed with a large yawn, his long fur sticking straight up in random spots and bits of moss clinging to his pelt.

“Good morning,” Icepaw mewed back as he followed some of the other apprentices out of the den.

A group of warriors sat outside of the warriors’ den including Longtail, who was sitting beside Stonefall. Icepaw padded up to his mentor just like the others were doing with theirs.

“We will be touring ThunderClan’s territory, specifically the borders which you will need to memorize,” Longtail told him.

“Ravenpaw, we’ll be joining them. Think of it as a test to see how well you remember borders and landmarks,” Stonefall said. “You both should get something to eat, it will be a long day.:

After sharing a large piece of prey with Ravenpaw, the two followed their mentors out of ThunderClan’s camp and Icepaw recognized the direction they were heading was similar to the one they had headed yesterday when he went to speak with his mother. The trees thinned out and he could spy a line of twoleg fence just behind the treeline.

“That is Twoleg Place, it borders ThunderClan’s territory on this side,” Longtail explained. “But you should already be familiar with this place since you came from there.”

Icepaw actually wasn’t all that familiar with the place since the first time he ever left his mother’s twoleg yard was the day he wandered into ThunderClan’s territory and was attacked by a fox, but he didn’t say that to his mentor, a little afraid that if he did Longtail who seemed to dislike him already might turn to hate him for correcting him. They moved on and the trees turned from maples and oaks into a pine forest.

“Ravenpaw? Why don’t you tell Icepaw about this place,” Stonefall spoke up, breaking the silence that had fallen between the cats.

“We call this pine forest Tree-Cut Place; twolegs come in leaf-bare to cut down the pine trees, but they return in the newleaf to plant new trees,” Ravenpaw mewed to the group.

What a bizarre thing for twolegs to do, Icepaw thought. He faintly remembered when he was a very young kit that his mother’s twolegs brought in a small pine tree for a time. It was a fuzzy memory, but he remembered his mother telling his siblings and him not to climb the tree or play with the colorful and shiny objects the twolegs put in the tree.

“Correct,” Stonefall purred to his apprentice.

The group moved on and started following a river which Icepaw was told was ThunderClan’s border with RiverClan. They came upon a collection of boulders on ThunderClan’s side of the river, bathed in sunlight with three strange cats dozing on top of them, two she-cats and one tom.

“Mossfeather! Mistycreek!” Stonefall called out in a friendly greeting as the ThunderClan group padded up to the boulders.

“Stonefall! Who’s this you got with you?” the gray and white she-cat asked.

“This is Icepaw, Longtail’s new apprentice,” the blue-gray tom told the group.

“He smells like a kittypet,” the black and white fluffy strange tom meowed. There was a nasty looking scar running down his face, but otherwise he looked friendly.

“He was,” Longtail hissed out, glaring at the tom. “But now he’s part of ThunderClan.”

“Who are these cats?” Icepaw whispered to Ravenpaw, looking wide eyed at the strange cats. Stonefall was acting friendly with the she-cats, one of the she-cats erriely looked similar to him, sharing a blue-gray pelt and blue eyes.

“That’s Mossfeather, Mistycreek, and Smudgepelt. They’re RiverClan warriors,” the other apprentice explained. “This place is called Sunning Rocks. ThunderClan and RiverClan used to fight over this stretch of land for many seasons, but Bluestar and Crookedstar, RiverClan’s leader, came to the agreement to make the land neutral territory to end the bloodshed.”

“Stonefall, we should be moving on,” Longtail called to his friend.

The blue-gray tom paused in his conversation with the two she-cats and meowed, “I’ll see you two at the Gathering. Happy hunting.”

“See you then,” Mistycreek purred back.

Mossfeather waved her tail in farewell to the group.

The black and white tom called, “See you around little apprentice!”

The ThunderClan cats continued on with the territory tour, but Icepaw kept thinking about how similar Stonefall and Mistycreek looked. Were they related? If so why were they in different Clans? His mind was so occupied by those thoughts that when they arrived back at camp, he walked right into another cat.

“S-sorry,” Icepaw stammered out as he stepped back to see who he walked into.

Towering about him was the large spiky-furred gray patchy warrior Owlshadow. Icepaw had mistaken the large she-cat for a tom the first time he met her, he had never met a she-cat so big before. A splash of white on her face highlighted her mismatched eyes, one green and one amber, as she stared down at the apprentice. “It’s fine, but you should be more careful next time,” the she-cat mewed.

“I will,” Icepaw meowed.

Owlshadow nodded before turning to join her mother, Spottedheart, by the warrior’s den.

“Hey Icepaw, over here!” Graypaw’s voice called out.

The black tom turned toward the sound of his denmate and saw him and the other apprentices were sitting around the stump outside the apprentice’s den. Icepaw hurriedly padded over to join them. Graypaw nudged a mouse toward him once he arrived and Icepaw gave a thankful pur before eating it.

“I hope I get to go to the Gathering tomorrow,” Graypaw meowed.

Icepaw blinked, there was that word again, the Gathering. No one has explained what that was for the time he has spent with ThunderClan. “What is a Gathering?” he asked.

“The Gathering is when all the Clans meet under the full moon for a time of peace,” Sandpaw meowed in a know-it-all tone. “Something you would know if you were Clanborn.”

“Do you think I will be allowed to go?” he asked.

“Of course!” Graypaw mewed before she-cat apprentice could say anything. “I bet Bluestar will want to pick you to come. Maybe you’ll get to meet WindClan’s former kittypets. Ravenpaw told me you already met Smudgepelt, RiverClan’s former kittypet.”

“Do you know the names of WindClan’s former kittypets?” Icepaw asked.

“Dawnheart and Jake are their names,” Ravenpaw replied. “Jake almost always comes to the Gathering, so he’ll probably be there for you to meet him.”

Icepaw blinked. This was the first he heard of an outsider joining the Clans and keeping their old name. He wondered what kind of cat Jake was that he wanted to keep that connection to his old life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for this short chapter, I'm not a fan of writing territory tours. Next chapter should be longer and hopefully get finished faster now that my laptop is working again.
> 
> Yes, I turned Treecut Place into a Christmas Tree forest because I honestly felt it was silly that a regular logging place could exist in ThunderClan's territory.  
> I'm curious to see if anyone can guess what twist I've done with Bluestar and her kits before I reveal everything.  
> Also let me know if you want allegiances. I'm working on them so I can keep track of things and I'll share them if people want them.
> 
> One last thing, I may be interested in searching for a Beta Reader to read over chapters to correct errors and bounce ideas off of.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Allegiances for Infernos and Icestorms

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Someone asked for allegiances, so here they are. They are not complete as there's some hidden characters not revealed yet, plus I might go through and fill out the other Clans.

ThunderClan  
Leader: Bluestar - blue-gray she-cat with blue eyes  
Deputy: Redtail - tortoiseshell tom with green eyes  
Medicine Cat: Tigerclaw - dark brown tabby tom with amber eyes, missing part of his back leg  
Warriors: Lionheart - golden tabby tom with green eyes  
Whitestorm - white tom with yellow eyes  
Willowpelt - pale gray she-cat with blue eyes  
Spottedheart - tortoiseshell she-cat with dark amber eyes (Spottedleaf)  
Darkstripe - black and gray tabby tom with yellow eyes  
Runningwind - light brown tabby tom with green eyes  
Mousefur - dusky brown she-cat  
Honeyfang - tortoiseshell she-cat with dark amber eyes  
Owlshadow - large spiky furred gray patched she-cat with one green eye and one amber  
Shadestep - black tom with a red undercoat and blue eyes  
Stonefall - blue-gray tom with reddish undercoat and blue eyes (Stonefur)  
Silverheart - silver tabby she-cat with blue eyes (Silverstream)  
Longtail - pale tabby tom with blue eyes  
Apprentices: Dustpaw - dark brown tabby tom  
Graypaw - long haired gray tom  
Ravenpaw - black tom with white dash on chest and tail tip  
Sandpaw - pale ginger she-cat  
Icepaw - black tom with one white paw and icy-blue eyes  
Queens: Frostfur - white she-cat with blue eyes  
Brindleface - tabby she-cat  
Goldenflower - pale ginger she-cat  
Speckletail - pale tabby she-cat  
Elders: Halftail - dark brown tabby tom, missing part of his tail  
Smallear - gray tom  
Patchpelt - black and white tom  
One-eye - pale gray she-cat  
Dappletail - tortoiseshell she-cat

 

ShadowClan  
Leader: Cloudstar - white tom with blue eyes (Cloudpelt)  
Deputy: Blackfoot -white tom with black paws  
Medicine Cat: Yellowfang - dark gray she-cat  
Runningnose - gray-and-white tom  
Warriors: Stumpytail - brown tabby tom  
Boulder - silver tabby tom  
Clawface - brown tom  
Nightpelt - black tom  
Queens: Dawncloud - small tabby  
Brightflower - black-and-white she-cat  
Elders: Ashfur - gray tom

RiverClan  
Leader: Crookedstar - light colored tabby tom with twisted jaw  
Deputy: Oakheart - reddish brown tom  
Medicine Cat: Mudfur - brown tom  
Warriors: Leopardfur - golden spotted tabby she-cat, Apprentice, Shadepaw (dark gray she-cat)  
Blackclaw - smoky black tom, Apprentice, Heavypaw (tabby tom)  
Loudbelly - brown tom, Apprentice, Silverpaw (light gray she-cat)  
Whiteclaw - dark tom  
Mistycreek - blue-gray she-cat with blue eyes (Mistyfoot)  
Mossfeather - gray and white she-cat green eyes (Mosskit)  
Smudgepelt - black and white tom (Smudge)

WindClan  
Leader: Tallstar - black and white tom  
Deputy: Deadfoot - black tom with a twisted paw  
Medicine Cat: Barkface - brown tom  
Warriors: Mudclaw - dark brown tabby tom, Apprentice, Webpaw (dark gray tabby tom)  
Tornear - tabby tom, Apprentice, Runningpaw (light gray tabby she-cat)  
Onewhisker - brown tabby tom, Apprentice, Whitepaw (white she-cat)  
Jake - bright ginger tom with green eyes  
Dawnheart - light brown tabby she-cat (Princess)  
Queens: Ashfoot - gray she-cat  
Morningflower - tortoiseshell she-cat

Cats Outside the Clans  
Barley - black and white tom  
Brokentail - dark brown tabby tom, formerly ShadowClan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've started a Patreon if anyone wants to check it out, it's Russetfrost


	7. Chapter 7

“That’s it! Use your size and speed to your advantage to evade and strike back!”

Icepaw listened to his mentor’s coaching as he ducked to dodge a pawswhip from Graypaw, slipping under the large apprentice and pushing up with his body to unbalance him. The gray tom wobbled and with another pawstrike from Icepaw, toppled to the ground. Icepaw placed a paw at Graypaw’s throat, ending the practice fight.

“That’s enough,” Lionheart rumbled from where he sat next to Longtail. “Great work, Icepaw. Graypaw, you need to work on your balance some more.”

The black tom’s chest swelled with pride over the praise as he stepped away from the gray apprentice. It had been a hard couple of moons since he joined ThunderClan, but he thought he was finally settling into things. He awaited every training session with excitement about what he would be taught next, excelling at fighting, but left something to be desired about hunting and tracking. Still he had no thoughts about ever returning to kittypet life.

Icepaw turned to look at his mentor for any sort of praise from him. It was hard to get the pale tabby to verbally praise him, but the silent nods and looks of approval encouraged him to work even harder. Longtail prefered to train him with another warrior and apprentice, usually Stonefall and Ravenpaw, but they were out on border patrol and Lionheart had asked for two to join them for battle training.

“Good job,” Longtail meowed to his apprentice with a nod. He looked up at the sky through the branches to see how late it had gotten. “We should get back to camp and grab something to eat, the Gathering patrol will be leaving soon.”

The former kittypet nodded, glowing with the praise. This would be his first Gathering since he was accepted into the Clan that he would be allowed to come on and he was excited to finally be able to go. He bounded over to the entrance of the sandy training hollow.

Longtail was speaking with Lionheart, thanking him for training with them.

“I wish I was going to the Gathering with you,” Graypaw meowed as he got back to his paws.

“I’m sure you’ll be able to come next time,” Icepaw mewed back.

“But it’ll be so boring waiting for you to come back,” the gray apprentice groaned.

“Come along, Icepaw,” Longtail called as he slipped out of the training hollow.

Icepaw scrambled to follow him back to ThunderClan’s camp. “Get something to eat and wait for when Bluestar to call for the cats going to the Gathering. And for StarClan’s sake groom yourself before we leave, I don’t want my apprentice to look like dust cloud with legs,” Longtail meowed as they arrived at camp before heading toward the warrior’s den.

The black apprentice nodded in his mentor’s wake and went to the fresh kill pile. Picking up a mouse, he headed for the stump outside the apprentice’s den.

“Icepaw! Icepaw!”

He looked up from the mouse he was beginning to eat to see a group of kits running towards him, a black and white tomkit in the lead. “Will you tell us what happens at the Gathering when you get back?” the tomkit asked when they reached him, fur fluffed up in excitement.

“Yeah! Tell us everything, Icepaw!” a small dark gray she-kit mewed.

Icepaw purred in amusement at the kits. When he wasn’t doing his apprentice training or duties, he was with the kits, entertaining them for the queens to have a break. He was a tad jealous of how carefree and friendly all the kits were and wished he had a kithood like them.

“I’ll tell you tomorrow; it will be far too late when I get back, you all will be asleep,” he tells them.

“No I won’t!” the black and white tomkit, Swiftkit, declared. “I’ll wait up all night for you to come back!”

“You can try, but your mothers won’t like that,” Icepaw meowed. “Look, if you promise to go to sleep when your mother tells you to, I’ll tell you all about the Gathering as soon as you wake up tomorrow. If I hear any one of you giving any trouble, I won’t tell any of you.”

The kits broke out in excited murmurings before they all agreed with the apprentice. “Ok,” they chirped.

“Kits! Stop bothering Icepaw!” Goldenflower called from the nursery entrance.

“Awwww,” the kits groaned. “Bye Icepaw,” they mewed before scampering back to the nursery, leaving Icepaw to finish his mouse in silence.

Not long after he finished his mouse and groomed himself, Bluestar called for the cats going to Gathering to join her by the camp’s entrance. Icepaw joined the warriors, being the only apprentice going on this Gathering. As the cats began to head to the Gathering, Icepaw found Longtail and Stonefall and kept behind them, not wanting to be left behind.

 

Four Trees was breathtaking at Icepaw’s first sight of it as the ThunderClan cats crested the ridge. The land stretched out in front of them, four giant oaks marking the place as the Gathering site, a large number of cats milled below, awaiting for the Gathering to begin. ThunderClan joined the other Clans waiting below the trees.

Icepaw looked around, amazed at the number of gathered cats and the variety of pelt colors and before he knew it, he had lost sight of Longtail and Stonefall. Nervousness shot through him; he was in the middle of a bunch of strange cats and his mentor had just disappeared, leaving him alone. His eyes flickered around to the cats around him, looking for any ThunderClan cats.

“Hello!”

He jumped and spun around to find a tabby she-cat, playful amusement in her green eyes. “Sorry if I scared you, but I haven’t seen you before. I’m Runningpaw from WindClan,” she meowed.

“I-Icepaw,” he stuttered out. He stared at her, her light gray pelt turning silver under the moonlight.

“Oh so you’re ThunderClan’s new apprentice? I’ve been wondering when I would get the chance to see you,” Runningpaw said.

“Yes, I am,” Icepaw meowed. “How long have you been an apprentice?”

“Only a couple of moons. I’ve got grouchy Tornear as my mentor, I wish Tallstar had given me someone nicer like Dawnheart, but I guess I don’t have very good luck,” Runningpaw meowed.

Icepaw had not heard of Tornear before, but he had heard of Dawnheart before as she was a former kittypet like he was. He wondered if she was here or not.

“Cats of all the Clans, I wish to speak to you under this moon of truce!” Bluestar called out, getting the cats’ attention.

Icepaw turned to see his leader and three toms sitting upon a great rock at the base of the four great oak trees.

“ThunderClan has continued to scent the fire-smelling rogue on our territory, he has continued to elude our patrols,” Bluestar said.

One of the toms on the rock, a thick-furred white tom with a wicked looking scar on his neck, lifted his tail up and meowed, “ShadowClan too has scented this rogue on our territory. However we have scented him with that traitor Brokentail and StarClan knows that that’s not a good sign.”

“What do you propose then, Cloudstar?” the black and white tom on the rock asked. “We’ve tried tracking both rogues down and the scent trails all lead back to Twoleg Place. Do you propose we send in patrols into Twoleg Place and question the kittypets?”

“No,” the white tom meowed. “That would get us nowhere. ShadowClan has increased patrols on our borders, we’ll catch them and teach them not to trespass on Clan territory.”

“Now that all the news of the rogues are out of the way, let us start this Gathering for real,” a tabby tom with a twisted jaw said, sitting strangely close to Bluestar on the rock. “The fish in RiverClan has been swimming well this past moon and all is well.”

“WindClan has been doing well also,” the black and white tom meowed. “We’ve brought one of our newest apprentices, Runningpaw, to the Gathering.”

“Runningpaw! Runningpaw!” the gathered cats chanted.

Icepaw looked around at the chanting cats in amazement, seeing Runningpaw’s green eyes shine with excitement. He joined in the chanting before it ended.

“Other than the rogues, ShadowClan as been peaceful. Brightflower has had her litter of kits,” Cloudstar announced.

“Brightflower! Brightflower!”

“Prey has been running well for ThunderClan. A couple moons ago, we took in a new apprentice and he has finally joined us for a Gathering, his name is Icepaw,” Bluestar meowed from the rock.

“Icepaw! Icepaw!” Cats from all four Clans chanted his name and Icepaw felt very small right then. He looked around and caught the sight of Runningpaw chanting his name. He lowered his head and gave his chest a nervous lick.

Each Clan leader had finished talking and they jumped down from the tall rock, ending the Gathering as they gestured for their Clanmates to follow them out of Four Trees.

“Bye, Icepaw,” Runningpaw meowed. “Maybe we’ll see each other again?”

Icepaw felt his pelt bristle with excitement and he had no clue why but he meowed “Next Gathering!” back at the she-cat.

Runningpaw laughed and it sounded like tinkling bells. “Sure! See you then!” she mewed before bounding off to rejoin her Clan.

Icepaw watched her go and silently hoped he could see her before next Gathering, but that probably wouldn’t happen since WindClan and ThunderClan didn’t share a border.

“Icepaw! There you are!”

The black apprentice turned and found his mentor calling for him. “We’re about to leave, don’t get left behind!” Longtail meowed.

Icepaw ducked his head and followed his mentor to where ThunderClan was getting ready to leave. He wished the Gathering lasted longer and he could of talked to Runningpaw some more. Perhaps next full moon he could.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Going to be looking for a Beta reader for this, please contact me if interested.


End file.
